The subject matter discussed in the background section should not be assumed to be prior art merely as a result of its mention in the background section. Similarly, a problem mentioned in the background section or associated with the subject matter of the background section should not be assumed to have been previously recognized in the prior art. The subject matter in the background section merely represents different approaches, which in and of themselves may also correspond to disclosed embodiments.
In the field of computing, systems implement pipelined backbone protocols to separate issuance of transactions by an agent. Issued transactions are typically separated into two phases: (1) requests by agent, and (2) grant by backbone. Such pipelined backbone protocols allow an agent to present multiple requests to a backbone for the same request channel, regardless of whether or not previous requests have been granted by the backbone. Each phase (e.g., request or grant) is able to make forward progress independent of other phases, thus allowing for high speed transaction transmission. Grants by the backbone within the same request channel are typically required to follow the order of the request presented by the agent to the backbone. One exemplary pipelined backbone protocol is the Intel On-Chip System Fabric (IOSF).
However, such a model becomes problematic for transactions which are to be handled locally, either being discarded or consumed by the agent itself, as such local handling interferes with the ordering requirement for grants by the backbone.
The present state of the art may therefore benefit from systems, mechanisms, and methods for enabling an agent interfacing with a pipelined backbone to locally handle transactions while obeying an ordering rule as described herein.